Need Help With Smith Mountain Lake VA

[tje0705]

Hey guys I have a two day club tournament as a co-angler on Smith Mountain Lake in Va April 22 and 23. I assume that the spawn will be in full swing when were there. I have never fished SML but know that it is clear, which scares me because im a dirty water fisherman. Ive looked all over the internet but havent found a whole lot of SML around this time. So far I figure I will throw a weedless gambler ez swimmer in a shad color, I will  have a swim jig to fish around docks, and will definetly have a spinning outfit with a wacky rigged senko for any sight fishing that presents itself. Other than that im kinda at a loss. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated guys. Thanks. 

[Cheeseburger Eddie]

Are you fishing in the Big Bass Tour tournament? If you aren't I would avoid fishing there because its going to be packed. 

1. Blue gill swim bait to pick up any bedded bass (jackal gantarel) Upgrade hooks No 2 elites.

2. red eye shad 1/2oz chili craw 2 TAP pattern upgrade hook No 2 elites

3. Rapala DT 10 Ikes old school upgrade hooks No2 elites

4. Drop shot with Bio spawn Plasma tail (any natural color) 3/16 oz weight

5. A-Rig full of Keitech blue gill swimbaits (booyah mini umbrella)

6. Mega strike shaky head 3/16 with a strike king finesse worm ELAZTECH (natural color) also put in a 2 ball worm rattler

7. Zoom sup fluke white

8. D&M custom jig with paca craw trailer

9. Strike King Rage Structure Bug (natural color) 4/0 Jig rig 3/16 oz weight. (Jia rig)

[N Florida Mike]

My uncle has a place on it but he mostly fishes stripers.Don't know if they count in the tourn. Or not.

[lakeannaangler]

Dt 6 in blue back herring 

Finesse jig 

T rigged rage craw 

Tiny fluke on drop shot 

 

  On 4/10/2016 at 10:22 PM, Cheeseburger Eddie said:

 

1. Blue gill swim bait to pick up any bedded bass (jackal gantarel) Upgrade hooks No 2 elites.

2. red eye shad 1/2oz chili craw 2 TAP pattern upgrade hook No 2 elites

3. Rapala DT 10 Ikes old school upgrade hooks No2 elites

4. Drop shot with Bio spawn Plasma tail (any natural color) 3/16 oz weight

5. A-Rig full of Keitech blue gill swimbaits (booyah mini umbrella)

6. Mega strike shaky head 3/16 with a strike king finesse worm ELAZTECH (natural color) also put in a 2 ball worm rattler

7. Zoom sup fluke white

8. D&M custom jig with paca craw trailer

9. Strike King Rage Structure Bug (natural color) 4/0 Jig rig 3/16 oz weight. (Jia rig)

Expand  

These Are all very good suggestions

[Mason DeJarnette]

Im fishing the FLW college northern division there on the 23rd. Scary to think how many boats are going to be on the lake with the Oakley big bass also going on at the same time. I also have been looking for info and have found none so really glad you posted this haha.

GO BUCKS!

[Zippyduck Krimm]

Wow, if I had known about all the other Tourneys I would not have signed up for the Big bass tourney.

[tje0705]

Thanks for all the help guys. Anything else anyone wants to add? And yeah I don't think my club realized there would be so many tournaments going on when they picked the dates haha. 

[Nitrofreak]

Keep in the back of your mind that the bigger fish are sanctuary fish, they don't like the pressure, find key points that have good spawning areas, the pressure of all the shallow anglers may keep some of these larger girls back a bit.

[Red Bear]

other than just telling you to throw the whole tackle box, here is some other info you may find helpful. while SML is notorious for boat traffic, remember youre going before memorial day so it could be a lot worse. there may be a lot of tournaments going on that weekend, but you wont have to deal with the many pleasure boaters and jet skis that you will see a month after youre there. also the lake is very huge, so maybe it wont be as crowded as youre picturing it, you have the main lake which is usually clear and you have 2 river arms which can get muddy at times. the further you get up the river arms the more you need to watch for debris in the water and the more dirty its likely to be.

expect water temps anywhere from the high 50s to mid 60s. largemouth outnumber smallmouth 10 to 1 also. one of the most productive patterns on SML is the docks, i would definitely spend some time throwing weightless senkos and shakey heads at them. or other weightless plastics if its not too windy, if windy then add a bullet weight or split shot.

I also like to throw cranks like the 5xd or 6xd around the treestumps and on points. But for the most part i would stick with slower moving presentations. the fish at SML can be real finicky.

my best colors for plastics seem to be shades of green, and whites...for crankbaits, black back with white/chrome/gray bellies...

the stripers are also spreading apart and will be all over the lake, so its possible you may pick up a few of those, possibly with bellies full of eggs, as theyre going through their "spawn"....